Girdles



May 3, 1955 E. G. MAYl-:R 2,707,280

GIRDLES Filed April 29, 1955 BY 5W/- Mga@ 2,707,280 Patented May 3, 1955hee GIRDLES Edgar G. Mayer, Jackson Heights, N. Y., assigner to RivoliCorset Company Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New YorkApplication April 29, 1953, Serial No. 352,008

3 Claims. (Cl. 237) This invention relates to girdles and similargarments and more particularly to a construction thereof which permitsfree leg movements as during walking or sitting.

I am aware that many such garments have been designed with the purposeof minimizing restriction of leg movements. A very common attemptedsolution was the provision of crossed, disconnected front panels, eachof which was permitted to ex independently ot' the other so as tofacilitate leg movements. I have discovered, however, that such anattempted solution, while eective for its own purpose, tended to defeatthe over-all purposes of the garment. Thus, the provision of such frontpanels was instrumental in decreasing the control features of thegirdle. On the other hand, when panels were formed so as to have alesser eli'ect on the control features of the girdle, they werecorrespondingly detective in the provision of free leg activity.

Bearing the foregoing in mind, l have designed a girdle incorporatingcrossed front members which are so disposed as to have little or nodeleterious effect on the function of the girdle as a whole. By thusdisposing such crossed front members, I am enabled to fabricate them ofelastic material, the elasticity being predominantly transverse, withouttransferring the elastic characteristics thereof to portions of thegirdle where they would be considered undesirable.

The girdle of the instant invention provides a pair of crossed,elongated elastic pieces which are confined to substantially the lowerfront end of the girdle. The elastic pieces extend diagonally downwardlyalong said lower front end and are anchored at the extreme lower end ofthe sides of the girdle where they interfere as little as possible Withthe required non-elastic characteristics of the front panels whilenevertheless supplying the elastic characteristics where most needed i.e. in the swinging leg movements. closed as being elastic insubstantially one direction i. e. transversely of the garment. In thisway, the pieces tend to maintain the non-elasticity of the front panelalthough a minor or lesser degree of elasticity in the vertical and biasdirections may well be included in such pieces.

The invention will be further understood from the following descriptionand drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the girdle as worn;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational View thereof;

Figure 4 is a Across-sectional view as taken along the line 4-4 ofFigure 2; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view as taken along the line 5-5 of Figure2.

The girdle body comprises a rear panel which may be of Lastex materialand stretchable predominantly vertically. The front comprises a pair ofpanels 11a and 11b which are inelastic and could be of one piececonstruction. Front panels 11a. and 11b are joined by a central line ofstitching 12. The girdle body further cornprises elastic side portions13 and 14, the elasticity being predominantly transverse or horizontal.An elastic waist- In addition, the elastic pieces are disband 15 isdisposed along the upper rear edge of the girdle. A hookless fastener 16is disposed along the front side of the girdle. The parts hereinabovedescribed are more or less conventional and may be substituted by likeconventional parts.

The instant invention is directed to a pair of crossed, elongatedelastic pieces 17 and 18 which are disposed at the lower front edge ofthe girdle. In fact, they constitute such lower front edge. Each elasticpiece is diagonally disposed at the base of the respective front panels11a and 11b. Each of the pieces is four sided and is formed with astraight upper end or side 19. The extreme upper portion of end 19 ofelastic piece 17 forms an upper corner 20 which is anchored :at thecenter line of the body as represented by the line of stitching 12. Forpurposes of physically locating the corner or point 20, which representsthe uppermost extremity of both crossed pieces, it may be noted that itis disposed approximately at the vertical level of the hip portion ofthe girdle.

The lower end or side 21 of each elastic piece is stitched to the sidesof the girdle body at the extreme lower side edges of the respectivefront panel sections. Each such lower end is considerably narrower thanits upper end 19 of the elastic piece, being in the order of from one totwo inches wide as contrasted to about four to five inches for the end19. These gures are of course illustrative and approximate. Upper end 19of insert 17 is stitched together with the diagonal lower end 22 ot'panel 11b to a portion of the diagonal side 23 of elastic piece 18. Inthe same manner, the upper end 24 of elastic piece 18 is stitched,together with the lower diagonal end 25 of panel 11a to the diagonalside 26 of elastic piece 17. The elastic pieces are otherwiseunconnected to each other so that their bottom sides or edges arecompletely free of each other, and permit the relative expansion notedin Figure l.

Pieces 17 and 18 are elastic in predominantly the transverse directionor along their lengths. This gives further desirable expansioncharacteristics. It will be noted that since the pieces 17 and 18 arerestricted to the lower edge of the girdle body, their elasticcharacteristics do not affect the required inelastic properties ofpanels 11a and 11b. Furthermore, the front panels 11a and 11b terminatein sharp angular bottom ends 27 and 28 so as to provide maximum controlto the front panel. It will be observed that these sharp angular bottomends of the front panels jointly form an inverted V in the lower frontof the garment and that the pieces 17 and 18 are set in the includedangle of the inverted V.

What is claimed is:

1. A girdle having a body portion comprising an inelastic front panelstructure and a pair of crossed elastic pieces each having four sidesand both being disposed at and constituting the lower end of said frontpanel structure, each of said pieces being horizontally elongated andbeing diagonally disposed at said lower end, three sides of each piecebeing sewn to said front panel structure and the fourth side being thebottom edge of each piece, and each of said bottom edges being freealong substantially the entire length thereof from both said front panelstructure and from the bottom edge of the other piece, the uppermostextremity of the crossed pieces being at the vertical level of the hipportion of the girdle.

2. A girdle having a body portion comprising an in elastic front panelstructure, the lower end of said front panel structure being in invertedV form and a pair of crossed elastic pieces wholly disposedsubstantially within the included angle of said inverted V, each of saidpieces being horizontally elongated and being diagonally disposed alongthe arms of the inverted V, the extreme bottom edges of each elasticpiece being free of each other 3 and of the body portion of the girdleand jointly comprising the extreme front bottom edge of the body p01'-tion, the uppermost extremity of the crossed pieces being at thevertical level of the hip portion of the girdle.

3. A girdle according to claim 2 and wherein the lower 5 cnd of eachpiece is narrower than the top end, said lower end being connected tothe sides of the body portion, the top end of each piece being connectedto the upper portion of one arm of the inverted V-shaped front panellower end and the elasticity of said crossed pieces being 10substantially transverse of the body portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSBenjamin Dec. 30, 1924 Gutschow Jan. 27, 1925 Fridolph July 20, 1948Rago Aug. 22, 1950 Colby May 15, 1951y

